Vayomer Shlomo (And Solomon Said) is a large, one-movement work about the wise King Solomon. The piece asks: What is the nature of wisdom, especially wisdom that is a gift from the Divine? I set excerpts of three works, two of which—Song of Songs and Kohelet (Ecclesiastes)—are examples of the wide body of written work that is attributed to King Solomon. The third is a setting of Solomon’s request to God, from Kings, for the wisdom to lead his people. When considered as reflections of divinely given wisdom, the rapturous joy of Song of Songs and the brooding introspection of Kohelet can be seen not as opposites, but kindred aspects of the whole that is true wisdom. Solomon, at the end of a long and prosperous life, ultimately led his kingdom into idleness and gluttony; perhaps the message of the story is that people are not meant to have such complete wisdom—rather, as in Gan Eden, there is a level of knowledge that we should accept having not in its pure form, but only reflected in the world around us. If so, then whether or not Song of Songs and Kohelet were authored by Solomon is irrelevant, as they are certainly part of the broader tale of Solomon—a tale of human interaction with the struggle to be as close to wisdom and divinity as possible, while still being humbly content within the constraints of our existence. In that spirit, I hope that Vayomer Shlomo, as a distinct and separate statement, can also be considered part of the story.

—Judd Greenstein

About the Work

The May 10, 2009 performance at Carnegie Hall marked the work’s World Premiere.

About the Composer

Composer Judd Greenstein was born and raised in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City … Learn More.